The past several years have been transformative for Avalanche Studios co-founder Cristofer Sundberg. First, Avalanche Studios was acquired in May 2018 by Danish entertainment company Norsk Film. Since then, Avalanche has both released Just Cause 4, Rage 2, and the original IP Generation Zero, and has been split into three subsidiary studios. Sundberg, however, won't be around to see what Avalanche does next. Sundberg left Avalanche in 2019, and has now announced the formation of a new studio.
In a post to Twitter, Sundberg announced that he had founded a new studio named Liquid Swords. The studio's logo includes a photo of a dark figure underneath an umbrella. Otherwise, much about the new studio remains mysterious. The new studio's official Twitter account later followed up, saying that it plans to share more information in early 2021. It also mentioned bringing more "explosions and madness" to the gaming industry, which is a rather clear hint at what's to come.
Confirming the hint, a press release associated with Liquid Swords' formation goes into a bit more detail about the company's plans. Liquid Swords, much like Avalanche Studios, will be focused on open-world games, action, and explosions. It also mentions "shareable experiences" and "memorable game moments," which could imply movement towards multiplayer, but could alternatively just mean events that are easy to talk about with friends. Needless to say, the creator of Just Cause appears to want to deliver more of that.
Sundberg also offered up a prepared statement regarding the founding of Liquid Swords. He first describes how he's taken the past year off to recuperate, which gave him the time to decide exactly what he wanted from a studio. One thing that he'll keep from Avalanche is a "no-nonsense, game development-focused approach."Â Otherwise, Sundberg says that the studio isn't intending to reshape storytelling in games, it's just here to create "spectacular experiences."
Like with Avalanche Studios, Liquids Swords will be based out of Stockholm, Sweden, but will manage other studios across the world. For the time being, no other talent at the studio has been announced. It's possible that some other Avalanche veterans will end up at the company, or Sundberg may be starting entirely fresh with Liquid Swords.
As for Avalanche, it's moving forward without Sundberg smoothly. The studio's previously confirmed that it'll continue to work on AAA releases like Just Cause and Rage, outdoor titles like theHunter, and self-published releases like Generation Zero at the same time. Avalanche has no currently-announced games in development, but just like with Liquid Swords, fans should expect more news soon.